Summer Neons

Hi guys!

So I'm going on holiday to Scotland for a few days and I thought it would only be fitting to create a holiday manicure.

I wanted my nails to stand out (especially in the ton of pictures I'm bound to take!) and so I went with bright neon colours. I couldn't decide on a specific colour however so I painted my nails in three different polishes and I love how they look together.

Click on the picture to see it in large!

All three polishes are from the Color Club Poptastic Collection and the specific shades are:

Purple: Pucci-Licious (blue-toned purple).

Pink: Poptastic (bright neon pink).

Green: Twiggie (light pastel neon green).

Link to this collection:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/111073132346?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Color-Club-Poptastic-Polish-Collection/dp/B003BDPYB8

I love Color Club nail polishes and I especially adore these ones as they are highly pigmented (only requiring one coat for full coverage) and they last for a long time on my nails. This was a must, of course, because I don't want chipped nail polish on holiday!

On top of these polishes I added some nail stickers and then finished off the design by adding a few dots and lines to my taste with some white nail polish.

I also used a thick layer of American Apparel's Clear topcoat to make sure the stickers stayed in place and to ensure that the manicure would last all week!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer, I'll see you all after my trip! :)

xxx

Lace Nails

Hi everyone, hope you're well!

Today I decided to paint my nails in an intricate lace design and the aim was to make this manicure look as fine and delicate as possible. I created this design by drawing curved lines in the corners of my nails and straight lines between these to join the curves up, creating the final look. Almost like an intricate web!

Take a look, what do you think? :)
(You can click on the pictures to see them in full size!)

The base colour I used was Rimmel's Frisky Clover, a dark salmon pink which is definitely more of an autumn nail colour but I thought it would really make the white lace design 'pop', as opposed to a lighter pink base which you may find in traditional lace manicures.

Here is a picture of my nails after I added a top coat :)

Here is a link to this polish :)

Rimmel 60 Seconds - 290 Frisky Clover: http://www.shopcade.com/product/rimmel-london-60-seconds-nail-polish-290-frisky-clover/51928515646fcb2151009d9f

If you give this design a go, be sure to tag me on Instagram @cutetickleangel so I can see your recreations :)

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you next week!

xxx

Rainbow Gradient

Hello everyone, hope you're all well!

Today I'm back with a new manicure and this one is super bright and eye-catching, perfect for the weather that we've been having recently. I love rocking multi-coloured nails once in a while because they always draw a lot of attention to my hands and they give those boring outfits that "pop" of colour. :)

These are my neon rainbow gradient nails and even though the final result looks like this took forever to do, this design was actually really quick and simple to complete.

Here are the polishes I used (along with links if you want to purchase any of them):

1. Revlon - Plum Attraction: http://www.boots.com/en/Revlon-Nail-Enamel_33582/
2. Revlon Top Speed - Royal: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131105441354?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108
3. Barry M - Cobalt Blue: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barry-Nail-Paint-Cobalt-Blue/dp/B004TLB1LS
4. Sally Hansen - Barely Blue Bell: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hansen-Limited-Edition-Designer-Collection/dp/B00HXWMJDO/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1405805112&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=barely+bluebell+sally+hansen
5. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - In Record Lime: http://www.xtras.co.uk/sally-hansen-insta-dri-nail-varnish-9-17ml-50-in-record-lime.html
6. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Butter-fly Stroke: http://www.sallyhansen.com/nails/nail-color/color/insta-dri%C2%AE
7. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Man-go Team: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SALLY-HANSEN-NAIL-POLISH-INSTA-DRY-MAN-GO-TEAM-CREME-LIMITED-EDITION-/330980961707?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1000adab
8. Maybelline Forever Strong Pro - Couture Orange: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MAYBELLINE-FOREVER-STRONG-PRO-NAIL-POLISH-VARNISH-10ML-460-COUTURE-ORANGE-/111415194748?pt=Nail_Polish&hash=item19f0dcf47c
9. Nails Inc - Special K Red: (Limited Edition).

When doing gradient nails, I like to make sure the polishes I use are as pigmented as possible because this gives the best effect. So the polishes listed above are the ones that I recommend.

The technique for doing gradient nails is really simple. Take a makeup sponge and paint on 3 of the colours in rows one below the other, as shown.

Now just sponge this onto your nails and dab until you are satisfied with the look. The sponge's texture blends the colours together to give the gradient effect. Use a topcoat to smooth out the colours and complete the manicure.

I really hope you liked this look, let me know what you thought in the comments below! Also leave a comment on what nail design you would like to see next! Thanks so much for reading, I'll see you in my next post, next week! :)

Sunset nails... and I'm back!

Hello there! So urm... I last blogged over a year ago... Oops.

I don't really know what happened, I guess I just decided that blogging wasn't for me and that I wanted to work more on perfecting my nail art designs. Looking back now, I wasn't happy with the content I was posting, the huge time gaps between posts and even the quality of my pictures.

Recently however, I decided to give this another go, and I think this past year has taught me a lot. So I really hope you like what's to come.

So without further ado, here's my latest nail art design :)

These are my pop art sunset nails, inspired by @chorubim on Instagram (check her out, she's awesome!). I've always had a thing for pop art ever since we studied Andy Warhol's work in high school and I think this manicure encapsulates that fun, bold and colourful nature that pop art is so often about. So when I saw Cho's post, I couldn't help but recreate this design.

I started off with a light blue shade (seen in the middle of my nails) as a base colour for all of my nails. This is Sally Hansen's Barely Blue Bell, part of the Complete Salon Manicure range.

I then lightly brushed on a purple polish, to the bottom third of my nails, ensuring that there wasn't much polish on the brush (by wiping off all the excess) so I could get a more streaky, 'brushed' effect which works well for this pop art look and helps to form the gradient. The purple polish I used was Sally Hansen's Perfect Plum in the Nail Growth Miracle formula.

I used the same technique for the tips of my nails, using a blue polish. This was Barry M's Cobalt Blue (an oldie but a goodie!).

I then went in with a pin dipped into black polish and added the silhouette of a safari landscape. Finally I painted the golden sun on my ring finger using Sally Hansen's Man-go Team! from their Insta-Dri range which is a colour I have completely fallen in love with!

I love the way the finished design looks and here are the links to the polishes I used, in case you want to purchase any of them :)

• Sally Hansen's Barely Blue Bell: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hansen-Limited-Edition-Designer-Collection/dp/B00HXWMJDO/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1405805112&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=barely+bluebell+sally+hansen
• Sally Hansen's Perfect Plum: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sally-Hansen-Growth-Miracle-Perfect/dp/B00HY7LZ9W
• Barry M's Cobalt Blue: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barry-Nail-Paint-Cobalt-Blue/dp/B004TLB1LS
• Sally Hansen's Man-go Team!: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SALLY-HANSEN-NAIL-POLISH-INSTA-DRY-MAN-GO-TEAM-CREME-LIMITED-EDITION-/330980961707?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1000adab

Leave me a comment on what nail design you would like to see next! Thanks so much for reading, I'll see you in my next post, next week! :)